traditional eats for the holidays

At home for Christmas, I'm taking some time to be quiet and enjoy days with my family. We'll be doing the usual stuff this year, including making and eating some traditional Finnish foods. My all-time favourite dessert is one I often have to explain to people, because it's done slightly differently in Finland (and better, I must say): rice pudding and blueberry sauce. While it is called something slightly different there ("Christmas rice porridge"), and calls for authentic Finnish bilberries, blueberries taste fine and are a nice Canadian adaptation of this Finn dessert. My great-grandmother used to make this, and so did my mom and grandma, but it was the sweetest when my grandad would make it for me, knowing I loved it so much. I'm going to try making it this year.

[Bonus! My favourite tarts from the Finn bakery.]